In this file photo, maritime traffic moves through the Houston Ship Chanel. A collision between a massive tanker and two oil barges has caused tens of thousands of gallons of a gasoline product leaking into the shipping channel. (Brett Coomer/AP)

Tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline product leaked into the waters of a Houston shipping channel after a 755-foot tanker collided with a tug pushing two barges each filled with 25,000 gallons of a petroleum product called reformate.

The crash happened at about 3:30 p.m. local time near Bayport, Texas.

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At a press conference on Sunday, Jim Guidry, executive vice president of barge owner and operator Kirby Corp., told reporters that the tanker’s hull punctured two of four storage tanks on the barges, the Houston Chronicle reported.

“The bow of the ship went through the port tank into the starboard tank, so there was no way to secure the source of the leak,” Guidry said, according the Houston Chronicle. “Those two tanks were open to the sea.”

The Genesis River, the tanker, was carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) when it hit the towing vessel Voyager, the U.S. Coast Guard told CNN, capsizing one and damaging the other so that it leaked the gasoline product. Reformate, a product used in blending gasoline, “is colorless, flammable and toxic to marine life,” noted ABC News.

A good 9,000 barrels of the stuff spilled into the channel, Guidry said, according to CNN.

It also sent gasoline fumes wafting westward for miles, the National Weather Service warned, the Chronicle noted.

The accident closed down the Houston Ship Channel for hours, and cleanup is ongoing, the Houston Chronicle said. Cleanup and environmental monitoring were being overseen by federal, state and local agencies, CNN said.

“Work is expected to continue throughout the day with an established priority of ensuring the protection of (Galveston) Bay from the additional release of product,” officials said in a statement on Sunday, according to CNN.

Air and water samples were also being analyzed to flag any harmful chemical levels.